Wintertaferelen / Winter Scenes

Winter scenes (Wintertaferelen in dutch) is a three-movement work inspired by the seventeenth-century masterpieces of Hendrick Avercamp. It serves as a musical canvas depicting the Dutch winter during the Little Ice Age.

The Prelude tells the story of the icy, mysterious silence of a frozen river at sunrise. The Scherzo is a feverish, hectic, and virtuosic movement in which the people on the ice are portrayed through music. The work concludes with a universal chorale that evokes the warmth and sense of togetherness of a December evening.

This work was commissioned by the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee.